Woburn, Massachusetts is a city in Middlesex County. Woburn was settled in 1640 near Horn Pond and was officially incorporated two years later. Woburn, MA is located eleven miles north of Boston and is easily accessible by both interstates I-93 and I-95. Woburn is home to a population of 38,100.

The city of Woburn, Massachusetts was named after Woburn, Bedfordshire in England. Woburn hosted the first religious ordination in America in 1642, when Reverend Thomas Carter was sworn in by some of the most prominent men in New England. One of these men was Captain Edward Johnson, who served as the first town clerk and Massachusetts General Court Representative. Johnson also made the first map of Massachusetts, wrote the first history of the colony, and is regarded as “the father of Woburn.”

During the 1970’s, Woburn, Massachusetts was the scene of a high profile water contamination crisis. During this time, the community became plagued with a high incidence of childhood leukemia and other illnesses, which was later found to be linked to volatile chemicals in groundwater pumped from two of the city’s wells. The injuries resulted in a lawsuit by citizens, whose children had developed or died from the disease, against two corporations accused of contaminating the water. The highly controversial trial resulted in acquittal for one of the companies. An Environmental Protection Agency report, however, later found both companies responsible for the contamination by improperly disposing of chemicals. The groundwater contamination case of Woburn is the basis for Jonathan Harr’s best selling book titled A Civil Action, as well as the 1998 movie of the same name, starring John Travolta and Robert Duvall.